Coaching Staff​
Sunday: Kyle Hopkins
Monday: Grayton Geisman
Tuesday: Jack Kangas
Wednesday: AJ Burt
Thursday: Isaac Lumley/Officer
2018-19 Officers
President: Kathryn Sparrow
Vice President: Braden Kane
Treasurer: Winston Kuriger
Meet Coordinator: Michael Cochenour
Dep. Meet Coordinator: Jeremiah Vannest
Apparel: Harold Kahler
Fundraising/Sponsorship: Katie Donovan
Social/Outreach: Isaac Lumley
Risk Manager: Allison Watkins
Nationals Coordinator: Shane Riddle
Former President: Natalie DeLeon
2018-19 Nationals Committee
Meet Director: Michael Cochenour
Deputy Meet Director: Shane Riddle
Treasurer: Jack Mantkowski
Apparel & Merchandise
Harold Kahler, Joe Berno, Sabrina Smith
Awards & Ceremonies
Amanda Sequeira, Shannon Pyle
Media & Marketing
Jenna Berg, Nia Garama
Sponsorships & Hospitality
Abby Moellering, Shashank Singh,
Nolan Woods
Team Registration
Grayton Giesman, Annalise Hoover
Venue Logistics
Alex Borchers, Linsie Zhang
Volunteers
Sophie Maharry, Gina Santi

Meet the officers!

  1. Name/ position: Kat Sparrow / President
  2. Year: Junior
  3. Best stroke: Butterfly
  4. How many years have you been swimming/ what teams: I started swimming when I was about 5 years old on a local summer league team called the Dublin Dolphins. I later swam for both Dublin Coffman High School and United Swim Association!
  5. Why did you join the club team: I joined Club Swimming at Ohio State because it seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to continue the sport that I loved and had grown up around. This team gives me the chance to both balance my time between academics and swimming and to train with other students who share my passion for swimming.
  6. What is your favorite memory from club swimming: My favorite memory would probably have to be competing on the winning 400 medley relay at Nationals my freshman year! Being able to hear CSOSU going crazy from our bleachers during the race and standing on the top of the podium with the other girls from the relay made me feel so lucky to have been a part of such an exciting race!
  7. Name one goal for the upcoming season: My goal for the upcoming season is to uphold the inclusive and motivating environment of this team that made me feel so welcomed as a freshman on CSOSU. It would also be great to see the energetic team spirit we have at Nationals brought to each of our meets throughout the year. Go Bucks!
  1. Name/position: Braden Kane / Vice President
  2. Year: Junior
  3. Best stroke: I am pretty good at starts...
  4. How many years have you been swimming/ what teams: I've been on and off competitive swimming for 14 years. I've swam for Madeira High School and the Blue Ash YMCA of Cincinnati, Ohio. This will be my third year swimming for CSOSU.
  5. Why did you join the club team:  I wanted to meet and make friends with people who share my love for swimming and fitness.
  6. What is your favorite memory from club swimming: I will forever cherish the memory of my boys and I getting all dressed up in our Hula skirts and Hawaiian garb and going buck wild to cheer for the Buckeyes at finals of the Nationals meet.
  7. Name one goal for the upcoming season: In general I would love to see more participation from all the members of the team throughout the year and for us to win the Spirit Award at Nationals this year.
  1. Name/position: Winston Kuriger / Treasurer
  2. Year: Junior
  3. Best stroke: Backstroke
  4. How many years have you been swimming/ what teams: I’ve been swimming competitively for 11 years now. I swam for the Powell YMCA for 7 years before switching to the Ohio State Swim Club, and I also competed for Olentangy High School.
  5. Why did you join the club team:  After quitting swimming initially, I found I still loved the sport, and club swimming was the perfect way for me to continue with it.
  6. What is your favorite memory from club swimming: Competing at Nationals with my team and bringing home a National title.
  7. Name one goal for the upcoming season: Defend our club swimming National title in our home pool.
  1. Name/position: Michael Cochenour/ Meet Coordinator and 2019 National Meet Director
  2. Year: Senior
  3. Best Stroke: Sprint Freestyle/Butterfly/IM
  4. How many years have you been swimming/ what teams:  This will be my 11th year swimming! I swam with the North Canton YMCA team from 6th grade to senior year, and I swam for Hoover High School in North Canton throughout my four years there. This will be my fourth year with CSOSU.
  5. Why did you join the club team: I joined Club Swimming at Ohio State because I didn't want to quit swimming once I left high school. I felt I had invested too much of myself into the sport to just stop! Joining the club was a great way to meet new people. It was also nice knowing I could have a competitive environment to practice while still having fun.
  6. What is your favorite memory from club swimming: Competing is my favorite aspect of the sport, so my favorite memories come from the meets we host and travel to. As Meet Coordinator, it is a lot of fun to plan all of the fun trips we take as a team. Also, being able to run our largest home meet ever - 520 swimmers competed! - was an awesome experience.
  7. Name one goal for the upcoming season: A goal of mine is to make finals in an event at Nationals! Another goal is for our team to work hard and become National Champs again!
  1. Name/position: Jeremiah Vannest / Deputy Meet Coordinator
  2. Year: Junior
  3. Best stroke: Breaststroke
  4. How many years have you been swimming/ what teams:  I've been swimming for around 8 years. I swam for the Gahanna YMCA and for Westerville South High School before joining the club team here at OSU.
  5. Why did you join the club team: I wanted to stay active and meet some new friends!
  6. What is your favorite memory from club swimming: My favorite memory was 2018 Nationals because it was fun to cheer everybody on and watch everyone do so well. 
  7. Name one goal for the upcoming season: The goal for next season is to mix up the strokes I swim and to keep having a good time.
  1. Name/Position: Harold Kahler / Apparel
  2. Year: Senior
  3. Best Stroke: Freestyle
  4. How many years have you been swimming/for what teams: I have swam for 4 years total, starting with my senior year of high school at Tipp City – Bethel and ymca with Huber heights hurricanes then 3 years on Ohio State club swim team
  5. Why did you join the club team: I wanted an easy way to meet people at college and a way to stay active while at college.
  6. What is your favorite memory from club swimming: One of my favorite memories from club swimming comes from 2 years ago when I had a bunch of friends I had made through club swimming over to watch some of the swimming at Rio Olympics. We ordered a bunch of pizza and just watched Phelps and the rest of USA kill it. I hadn’t seen any of them for like two months or so, so it was pretty cool that there were all willing to drive an hour there and back just to hang out for two or three hours.
  7. Name one goal for the upcoming season:  I want to help create a team environment that is lots of fun and hopefully get people to look forward to coming to practice every night. It would be pretty cool to win club swimming Nats again too.

  1. Name/ position: Katie Donovan / Fundraising and Sponsorship
  2. Year: Junior
  3. Best stroke: Freestyle
  4. How many years have you been swimming/what teams: I've been swimming for around 14 years starting with my neighborhood team, the HPE Pirates! I swam on the Hudson Explorers Aquatic Team (HEAT) through elementary and middle school and swam for Hudson High School for 4 years. This will be my third year on CSOSU.
  5. Why did you join the club team: Coming to OSU, I joined the club team in attempt to try to find a smaller community on such a large campus. From joining CSOSU I found the feeling of a team, a workout, and amazing friends!
  6. What is your favorite memory from club swimming: My favorite memory from CSOSU is swimming on the 400 free relay at Nationals freshman year and getting third!
  7. Name one goal for the upcoming season: WIN NATIONALS!!! It was so fun to see the boys win the 2018 meet. I'd love to be able to not only have the girls team win, but have our entire team win the overall meet!
  1. Name/position: Isaac Lumley / Social Chair
  2. Year: Junior
  3. Best stroke: Freestyle
  4. How many years have you been swimming/ what teams: 7 years. I started my freshman year of high school and have since swum year round with many clubs and organizations.
  5. Why did you join the club team: I joined because swimming has become a large part of my life and I wanted to continue that in college.
  6. What is your favorite memory from club swimming: My favorite memory was the men’s team winning nationals this past year.
  7. Name one goal for the upcoming season: My main goal is to place higher at nationals than I did last year while also being as involved as possible with the team.
  1. Name/position: Shane Riddle / Nationals Coordinator and 2019 Nationals Deputy Meet Director
  2. Year: Senior
  3. Best stroke: Definitely not butterfly
  4. How many years have you been swimming/ what teams: I have been swimming for 15 years now. I started with my local summer team Life Center Plus, then moved on to Hudson Heat and Stow Munroe Falls High School swim team. This is my fourth year on the OSU club swim team.
  5. Why did you join the club team: I joined to stay in shape and meet new people. I stayed because the people I met were awesome.
  6. What is your favorite memory from club swimming: My favorite club swimming memory, hands down, was August and Joey shaving each other in the shower at nationals while screaming obscure vine/movie/tv references at the top of their lungs.
  7. Name one goal for the upcoming season: I would love to continue our reign as national champs AND win the Spirit Award we were robbed of the past two years in a row
  1. Name/ position: Allison Watkins / Risk Manager
  2. Year: Senior
  3. Best stroke: Breaststroke
  4. How many years have you been swimming/ what teams: I have been swimming since I was about 7 years old. I started out on a summer league team called Northridge Stingrays in Springfield, OH. In 6th grade, I swam for SPY (Springfield Y), but then I started basketball in 7th grade so I just did summer league again. In high school, I swam my junior and senior year for the Kenton Ridge Cougars. My senior year, I also swam SPY again! Now I swim for the greatest team ever: Club Swimming @ Ohio State
  5. Why did you join the club team: I knew before I even went to college that I wanted to continue swimming competitively, but I did not want to go to a DIII school. I was born a Buckeye and Ohio State was my dream school. This team allows me to still swim competitively and push myself to get better, but it is a laid back and fun environment! I also joined this team because I wanted to make campus seem a bit smaller by finding my group of friends. Now my closest friends from this team are my roommates, including our amazing President!
  6. What is your favorite memory from club swimming: My favorite memory was freshman year at Nationals 2016! Well we first get to Atlanta, Georgia and we go see the Centennial Olympic Park. That was so cool to me and I enjoyed taking tons of pictures! Then we go and swim in the pool at Georgia Tech which was the Olympic Pool in 1996. The atmosphere at Nationals is surreal. Just so you know, you lose your voice like the first day! It is so much fun representing Ohio State and cheering for your teammates! What topped off this amazing experience was listening to our name be called as the National Champions!
  7. Name one goal for the upcoming season: One of my goals for the upcoming season is to attend practice at least 3 times a week and improve all my times from last season.
  1. Name/position: Natalie DeLeon/ Former President
  2. Year: Senior
  3. Best stroke: Butterfly
  4. How many years have you been swimming/ what teams: I have been swimming for a little over 14 years. I swam for a club team in Connecticut called New Fairfield Aquaflyers. I also swam for my high school all 4 years in addition to my club team. This will be my fourth year on the club team at Ohio State.
  5. Why did you join the club team: I joined the club swim team because I truly love swimming and wasn’t ready to give up competing. I couldn’t imagine not being part of a team and after being a part of this club for three years now I can easily say that everyone on it has become my new swim family.
  6. What is your favorite memory from club swimming: It’s hard to just tell one memory or one story. Every meet you go to creates memories and bonds between all of us, especially our nationals meet. One memory that sticks out the most to me is when we were at nationals and the meet got delayed so we decided to have a flip-cup relay with the other teams, which we usually win , but Michael just couldn’t flip it so we ended up getting lapped, but it’s fine we still placed in the actual meet, which is where it mattered.
  7. Name one goal for the upcoming season: One goal that I have for this upcoming season is to have both the guys and girls place top 3 at nationals and be top 3 as a combined team.

Meet the Coaches!

  1. Name/Day: Paul Garman/Sunday
  2. How many years have you been coaching/ what teams: This is my first year coaching Club Swimming here. In the past I helped in and was a coach at the University at Buffalo Swim Camp for 4 years.
  3. Were you ever a swimmer? If so, what was your favorite stroke/ event: I started swimming competitively at 8 years old and did so all the way through undergrad. Most recently, I swam Division I from 2009-2013 for the University at Buffalo (UB), where I primarily swam the 200 free and 200 IM. Now, I am a graduate student, and last year was my first year on the club team here at OSU.
  4. Why did you volunteer to coach our team: After college swimming, I was pretty burned out and "retired" from the sport for about a year and a half. This past winter, I started getting an itch to get back in and start training again. I jumped in with CSOSU and the people here (swimmers and coaches) helped me regain my passion for the sport. I'm very thankful for that, and hope that by coaching I can do that for other newcomers like the team did for me!
  5. What quality is most valuable for a swimmer to have and why: The most common thing I noticed amongst the best swimmers I was ever around was that they were tough as nails mentally. Not being afraid of any pain they might experience during practice be it a hard set, during the end of a race, or even just focusing on a new technique is what made them great. Being able to use that attitude to lead and inspire others during meets and practices is also incredibly valuable to the team as a whole. Lastly...LEGS!!!
​
  1. Name/Day: Grayton Geisman / Monday
  2. How many years have you been coaching/ what teams: I started coaching for the first time this past semester for CSOSU!
  3. Were you ever a swimmer? If so, what was your favorite stroke/ event: I've been swimming competitively for 15 years. I started swimming with the Worthington Wave summer team and then Worthington Swim Club. In high school I swam for Worthington Kilbourne High School. Currently I've been completing for Club Swimming at Ohio State for 2 years.
  4. Why did you volunteer to coach our team: My favorite events are the 200 IM and the 100 Breast. I volunteered to coach so that I could give back to this team and so I could stay connected with swimmers I don't get to see often.
  5. What quality is most valuable for a swimmer to have and why: I think the most important quality of swimmer is being thoughtful about what you are practicing and having the dedication to do so day in and day out. 
  1. Name/ Day: Jack/ Tuesday
  2. How many years have you been coaching/ what teams: About 25 years - I started as a swimmer with the team - oh, awhile back. I have ONLY been a coach for this team, and that is fine by me.
  3. Were you ever a swimmer? If so, what was your favorite stroke/ event: Yes, once a swimmer - always a swimmer - even though it may not be current. I was (and still am) a distance and 400 IM'er - just happen to be out of  practice at the moment.
  4. Why did you volunteer to coach our team: It just sort of happened - over time (a long time), I went from creating workouts to being a coach.  
    I am still learning what that means and that is what is challenging (and fun) for me.  It is a challenge to figure out when to interrupt your flow and when not to.
  5. What quality is most valuable for a swimmer to have and why: Curiosity and a hint of  "bravado" (aka swagger, panache, confidence),
  • To have expectations (albeit realistic ones) for yourself (and for the those around you and for the coaches too). That you use every practice to "get" something (a time, a perfect stroke or a state of body/mind), and if it doesn't materialize - there is the next practice.
  • The internal and external smile - to remember why this sport has been fun, in the past, and will continue to be fun - as long as we want it to.
  • That this club is ALL of you, get to know those around you (I have always been surprised by the quality of "people" who swim, at all levels, and especially as adults). It is there if you want to find it.
  • The ability see the big picture - that no one set or practice defines us. We can swim for so many different physiological benefits (too many to list!).
  • That punching and churning the water is a healthier response than verbally (or even physically) punching someone in the face.
  • ASK questions of coaches and other swimmers, this is not a top down organization (there will be no yelling)
  1. Name/Day: AJ Burt/ Wednesday
  2. How many years have you been coaching/ what teams:  I've been coaching for 8 years, 6 of them as an assistant coach for the Wyoming Seadragons and three as head coach for the Cincinnati Country Club
  3. Were you ever a swimmer? If so, what was your favorite stroke/ event: I swam for 16 years, my last 4 for Wittenberg University. I did a little bit of everything, but specialized mostly in breaststroke and distance IM.
  4. Why did you volunteer to coach our team? Since becoming a swammer, I've really missed being involved in the sport, so coaching for the team is a great way for me stay active in and engaged with swimming. As a D3 swimmer I was also able to be passionate about lots of other extracurriculars, so it's fulfilling to work with swimmers who seem to pride themselves in both staying involved with their sport as well as lots of other forms of student involvement.
  5. What quality is most valuable for a swimmer to have and why:  I don't think I can or would place it on one thing because each member of a swim team operates so differently and each unique approach to the sport adds value(s) that influence and make a well-rounded unit. However one common trait I've found in great teammates is determination because it keeps the forward mental momentum necessary to succeed at any capacity.​
  1. Name/Day: Nicole Leenders/ Thursday
  2. How many years have you been coaching/ what teams: I have been coaching for a total of 6 years at the state and national level. My latest job was to be Michael Phelps personal motivation coach. Let me tell you, he is a phenomenal athlete but needs a strong team around him. Just like the Ohio state swim team!

    Assistant Coach Rams Swim Team 2010-2014
    Head Coach Little Penguins 2015-2016
  3. Were you ever a swimmer? If so, what was your favorite stroke/ event: GMD High School Swim team (2003-2006)
    University of South East Alaska Swim Team(2007-2011)
    First to the Egg 1988
    Front Crawl
  4. Why did you volunteer to coach our team? I love to be around the pool and see people achieve their full potential. Swimming is also a healthy activity that has lifelong benefits. The energy of competitive swimming brings life to a higher level for me whether I am competing or coaching.
  5. What quality is most valuable for a swimmer to have and why: Fighting Spirit is what I see as the most valuable quality in a competitive swimmer. To swim with everything you have and then some. But in the end everyone is unique and many successful swimmers have contrasting strengths and weaknesses.